Castro and the intellectuals
By Bill King
web posted May 19, 2003
From his very first days in power, Fidel Castro has had a
straightforward approach towards intellectuals. He has
showcased those who apologize for and applaud his regime, and
has suppressed those who expose and condemn it. Given this, it
is hardly surprising that those in the former category have largely
hailed from outside Cuba, while those in the latter have most
often come from inside the island itself.
In fact, the deeply anti-intellectual strain in Castro's revolution
was evident as far back as the early 1960's. It was made explicit
in that infamous and profoundly totalitarian slogan from those
heady revolutionary days: "Inside the revolution, everything.
Outside the revolution, nothing". The only ones to whom this
wasn't evident were the pro-Castro intellectuals in the Americas
and Europe—who confused being intellectuals with being
cheerleaders, and Castro's blessing to use more than one cheer
with a genuine tolerance of dissent.
Over the last four decades, when reports of repression inside
Cuba for those who dared disagree with Castro would finally
penetrate through to Paris or Mexico City (or New York or
Toronto for that matter), or when a particularly high-profile case
would become too well-known to ignore, the pro-Castro
intellectuals would go into a crisis and emerge with their numbers
reduced.
The Cuban regime's most recent crackdown and executions
have provoked yet another crisis among the pro-Castro
intellectuals. Most notably, the repression has led to a breaking
of ranks by a number of prominent and long time "friends" of the
Cuban regime, including the prolific Uruguayan writer Eduardo
Galeano [http://www.progressive.org/june03/gal0503.html],
Portuguese writer and Communist Party member Jose
Saramago, and most recently, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=
/afp/20030508/en_afp/cuba_iraq_us_rights_030508205600].
While they are still supportive of Castro out of a long held anti-
Americanism and an instinctive identification with the radical left,
all three have issued statements to varying degrees critical of his
regime in the wake of the crackdown.
This public questioning by the "critical supporters" has set off a
maelstrom of debate about Castro's regime. Petitions either pro
or con have come fast and furious. There hasn't been this much
public critical discussion about Cuba among leftist intellectuals
since Castro jailed the poet Heberto Padilla in the early 1970's.
Not even the purge of the army's officer corps during the Ochoa
affair in the late 1980's, complete with midnight executions,
elicited this degree of commotion.
But if the type of repression that provoked this latest debate is
not itself new, what is indeed new is Castro's attempt to stifle a
discussion that is for the most part taking place outside of Cuba.
There can be no more telling sign of the regime's increasing
isolation than that, for the first time in the history of the Cuban
revolution, Castro feels the need to try to silence criticism of his
regime not just in Cuba but in other countries. And while he is
unable to actually stop an open discussion about his regime
outside the island, he is doing his very best to stifle it.
The first targets in Castro's new campaign have been Galeano
and Saramago, in order to discourage further defections from the
blindly pro-Castro camp. The first missive came in the form of an
open letter [http:
//www.granma.cu/ingles/abril03/jue24/16amigos-i.html] that
appeared above the names of two dozen state-approved Cuban
academics and artists, including 82 year old ballerina Alicia
Alonso. With a feigned concern at the unnamed intellectuals'
"confusion", the letter admonishes "some close friends of Cuba"
for making comments that are being used to "prepare the way for
military aggression by the United States against Cuba".
The open letter was followed by a more direct and more general
warning, delivered by Castro himself at this year's May Day
festivities. In a short address, only 2 ½ hours long, his message
[http://www.ratb.org.uk/html/cspeaks/may_day_2003.html] to
leftist intellectuals in Latin America and elsewhere was clear:
those who voice any public criticisms of the his regime are
helping "US Imperialism"—or in its latest and more outrageous
Castroite appellation, "US Nazi-Fascism"—to prepare its attack
on the island. His regime is to be supported unconditionally,
outside just as much as inside Cuba.
The threat of a US invasion is of course the same refrain that has
been offered up as justification for the crackdown itself. Today
few take Castro seriously in this attempt to justify the repression.
But for the remaining pro-Castro intellectuals outside of Cuba,
his arguments are still good currency. And so, from the
fraudulent Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala to the ubiquitous
Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina, together with Chomsky et
al, they have recently signed a petition expressing their support
for the Cuban regime. Addressed to the "Conscience of the
World" [http://www.porcuba.cult.cu/index_eng.php], it is a
curious document devoted more to opposing the recent toppling
of Saddam Hussein and to US "harassment" of the Cuban regime
than to the issue of democratic rights inside Cuba.
There is no doubt that Castro's desperate attempt to stifle debate
outside Cuba will prove fruitless. As his regime takes a harder
line, criticism from intellectuals around the world will
increase—including from an increasing number of former
supporters. Years from now, Castro's attempt to silence
intellectuals outside Cuba will be seen as at best a bizarre by-
product of the crackdown that marked the beginning of the end
of his regime.
Bill King is a long time observer of the radical left around the
world.
Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com